


Caught in the Rain

by Fake_Gameboy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adventure, Adventure & Romance, F/M, Light Romance, pance, pidgance, plance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-05-14 02:47:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14761146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fake_Gameboy/pseuds/Fake_Gameboy
Summary: During a routine scouting mission, Pidge and Lance search an uninhabited planet for power crystals. In order to keep themselves entertained, they decide to make a little game out of it.





	1. Game Start

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, it's been a super long time since I posted anything. Had to really focus on school these past two semesters, too busy to do any writing. Anyway, not sure what to do with my series since I wrote myself into a bit of a corner, so here's a standalone story that's not a part of it. Been sitting on this for awhile, and I'm kind of pleased with how it came out. Cheers!

“So number 5, here’s what you’re going to be doing…”

Coran and Pidge stood opposite each other on the castle bridge. Behind them sat Lance sprawled across a chair, legs dangling over its armrest. Pidge earnestly paid attention to Coran’s mission briefing, while Lance drifted in and out of his lecture.

“The planet Elencephalon had been a Galra occupied planet until the coalition’s recent victories. Strangely enough, this is one of the few planets almost completely untouched by the Galra. By some kind of miracle, the Galra have completely overlooked this treasure trove of resources! Our scans have indicated that the planet is rich with power crystal mining deposits! Very similar to the crystals found on Balmera.”  
Coran twiddled his mustache in satisfaction, a gesture that made Pidge giggle. “So what do you want me to do, exactly?”

“I’m glad you asked number 5! Your lions are equipped with scanners that can detect power crystal deposits. We need you to go down to the planet’s surface to mark where the power crystal deposits are highest in concentration, that way we can get mining crews down there right away.”

“Seems simple enough, anything about the planet itself I should know about?” Lance placed one of his feet on the floor and pushed off, spinning himself around in the chair.

“Well, Elencephalon is a planet that is almost entirely made up of ocean, with most of its continents centered around its equator. This means that what little of the planet’s surface isn’t underwater, is covered in thick tropical forests.”

Lance planted his foot on the ground to stop himself from spinning, his interest was now piqued.

“Furthermore, every few quintants huge electromagnetic storms engulf the entire planet. There is also no civilization or intelligent life on the-.”

Lance sprung up from his chair, Coran had inadvertently captured his attention. “Coran, could you tell me a little more about the storms you just mentioned?”

Pidge eyed Lance somewhat suspiciously, Lance hardly ever paid attention to mission briefings. “Ah yes of course. These storms cause huge torrential downpours that can last for quintants at a time. Not to mention that flying through one is next to impossible, if the turbulence doesn’t send you spiraling down to the planet’s surface, the lightning will. So do be mindful of how much time you’re spending on the planet as a storm can roll in at a moment’s notice.”

Pidge adjusted her glasses before speaking. “Okay, so locate as many power crystal deposits as possible, and report back to the castle before a storm comes in, got it.” Pidge turned around and began making her way to the hangars.

“Precisely, should be an easy mission for you, number 5” Lance looked at Coran waving goodbye at Pidge then turned to Pidge as she walked away.

“W-wait! Wouldn’t it be better if two of us went down to Elen-whatever to look for deposits? Double the lions mean double the mining spots we could find.”

Pidge stopped in her tracks and rolled her eyes before turning around to face Lance. “No, Lance, one lion is more than enough. Having one just lion out means we can’t form Voltron, having two lions out would put us at an even bigger disadvantage. Besides this is easy, I could find these deposits in my sleep.” Pidge tossed Lance a small, smug smile but he had already turned his plea to Coran.

“What do you think Coran? Having both of us go would be better right?” Coran twiddled his mustache again, this time in thought.

“C’mon Coran, one is enough, I don’t need Lance weighing me down anyway.” Pidge shot Lance an even smugger look than before.

“Hey! You’re one to talk about all this lion stuff, Ms. I’m taking off on my own personal mission without telling anyone.”

Pidge’s smug look left her face at Lance’s comment. “T-that was totally different and you know it! I was looking for my brother.” Pidge crossed her arms, annoyed at Lance that he would even go there.

“Alright alright I get it I get it.” Lance decided to drop that point entirely, he knew how fierce Pidge could get when it comes to her family. “So uh, what’s your take Coran? Both of us or one of us?”

Coran stood in silence for a brief moment before looking up at the two paladins. “I think both of you going down to cover more ground would be best. The Galran army is in disarray, and no rogue faction would bother trying to take on the collation directly, it would be catastrophic for them.”

“Yes! Race ya down to the hangars Pidge!” Pidge didn’t even have time to protest before running after Lance. “No fair, you got a head start! And I’m still not okay with this!” Pidge ran out of the bridge and chased after Lance.

Lance and Pidge powered on their lions and jetted out of the castle hangar. In front of them sat an iridescent blue planet with lush green continents scattered throughout its midsection. The red and green lions quickly broke through the planet’s atmosphere before slowing down to a cruising speed. Pidge and Lance cruised over the forest below, their scanners already detecting deposits of power crystals. Pidge spotted a clearing in the forest and opened a communication link with Lance.

“Hey I see a clearing over there, let’s stop for a tick and figure out a game plan.” Both lions gently descended into the clearing, trying not to disturb the local wildlife.

“Okay so, you take west and I take east?” Pidge’s voice came through Lance’s helmet.

“Sure thing, let’s do this.”

“By the way, the one who finds more power crystal deposits wins, see ya!” On that note Pidge kicked her lion into high gear, leaving Lance in the dust. He looked at his scanner, noticing the closest crystal deposit was to their east.

“Hey no fair! You got a head start AND you get to go for the closer deposit!?” Lance took off as quickly as he could, not wanting to be outdone by Pidge.

“Aw c’mon Lance, you’re such a good pilot, don’tcha think I need a little head start?” Lance could hear the sarcasm dripping off Pidge’s every word, but he was inclined to agree with her anyway.

“Of course! You’ll need all the help you can get if you’re gonna beat the Tailor of the Galaxy Garrison!” Pidge giggled into her mic at Lance’s use of the old nickname he gave himself.

“You’re such a dork, you know that?”

“You can call me whatever you want when I win!”

Pidge honed in on her second crystal deposit, as she marked her first on her map. “Gonna turn off my comms so I can focus on beating you, that cool? We’ll meet up at the clearing if we notice a storm brewing.”

“Whatever you say Pidge, I’ll meet you there.”

Although Lance had only found one deposit to Pidge’s two, he noticed two deposits on his scanner that were fairly close to each other. If he played it right, he could tie things up with Pidge and keep it competitive, the game was on.


	2. Just Shy of a Dozen

“Aaaand that makes twelve!”

Pidge was pleased with her work. What started out as a glorified scavenger hunt had turned into something much more fun. Although she’d never admit it, in the end she was glad Lance pushed his way into this would-be boring mission. Another edition in her small rivalry she had going with Lance. It began with trading high scores in Iron Shot 3, and grew more complex over time. Most recently, Lance bet her he could shoot down more Galran fighter drones during a skirmish. Lance won that one, so she was determined to even up the score. Before she could locate the next deposit, Pidge noticed the sky darken and clouds beginning to roll in.

“Hey Lance, looks like clouds are rolling in, meet back at the rendezvous point ‘kay?”

“Yeah sure, but uh, how many deposits you got marked down?”

“I got thirteen total.” Pidge’s satisfaction rang out over the comm link.

“Quiznak, give me a tick.”

Lance had managed to locate only ten mining deposits. He cursed Pidge for springing this on him. If he had known Pidge would have made a game out of their mission, it would have been him going west and him getting those easy marks. It didn’t bother him that much though, Pidge’s game acted as a good cover for his real reason for tagging along.

“Lance! If you’re thinking about scoring a few extra points don’t bother, we really gotta get going before the storm comes in.”

“Uh, what did you say? Sorry didn’t hear that I turned off my comm link so I could focus bye.” Pidge gritted her teeth at the same remark she made at Lance when the mission first started.

“Lance I’m serious, you better be at the rendezvous point when I get there, and you better be hearing my voice right now!”

It was already too late; Lance had made up his mind to at least tie Pidge before heading back. He had one deposit found, he just needed one more. Meanwhile raindrops started to fall onto the green lion. Pidge pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled deeply before bursting onto the comms again.

“Ok forget the rendezvous point, just jet off the planet from wherever you are and we’ll meet up in space, we really don’t have time for this Lance!”

On that note Pidge skyrocketed upwards desperately trying to leave Elencephalon’s atmosphere before it was too late. By the time she reached the stratosphere the rain was coming down harder than any storm she had experienced on earth. Just then, she felt a deep connection to her lion. Every fiber in Pidge’s body began demanding her to cut to the left as hard as she could. Pidge obeyed her instincts, and not a moment later, a huge lightning bolt descended right through the flight path she was on not even a tick ago. Pidge hit the brakes as hard as she could, deciding it was too dangerous to try and navigate through the storm and piloted green back to the planet’s surface. Lo and behold, she saw the Red lion sitting in the middle of the rendezvous point.

“-ey, -eally –rry fo- not leavi-- -n ti-e.” Pidge was barely able to hear Lance’s half-hearted apology through the static. “Coran wasn’t kidding about the storm jamming our signal, we’re right next to each other.” Pidge switched to a text channel, and began to slam her fingers against a hard light keyboard.

“I can’t believe you, you know we’re gonna be stuck here now for at least a day right!?” Lance saw Pidge’s message pop up on his heads-up display and recoiled into his chair. He pulled up the keyboard and scrambled to find an excuse.

“Idk if you heard me on the comm link but I said I’m sorry, I seriously thought I could make it.” Lance sunk into his chair, hoping that would be a good enough excuse to satisfy Pidge.

“Ugh, it’s fine, I guess. I was the one that came up with the stupid challenge anyway. I’m madder that Voltron is down TWO lions than anything else. You can message me on here later, I just… Need to cool down a bit.” With that, Pidge tilted her head back and let out a deep sigh. Getting angry wasn’t going to solve anything. She began to poke around Green’s systems, one of her favorite past times.

Meanwhile, Lance paced back and forth in Red’s cockpit. If he was honest with himself, he knew he had time to head back to the rendezvous with Pidge, and he didn’t care for losing the game all that much either. What he did care about however, was spending a relaxing day in a thunderstorm. He put that above his team, and above Pidge. He tried to rationalize that the crew would be fine without them, but the guilt was too much to bare.

“Alright, I hate to do this to you Red, but I gotta go out there and give Pidge a real apology, and not an excuse. Sorry to leave you in the rain all by yourself, but I gotta set things right.”

Lance felt Red’s approval as he lowered her head down and exited out her mouth. He ran out in front of the Green Lion waving his arms and shooting off his bayard in hopes of grabbing Pidge’s attention. She eventually looked out, and face palmed when she spotted him. It was entertaining to watch Lance dance in the rain, but then a bolt of lightning struck at the opposite end of the clearing, making the two of them jump in shock. Pidge moved back into her seat to lower Green’s head and let Lance in. She swore she never saw him move faster in his life.

Lance clawed his way into Green. Soaked to the bone, a small puddle formed around Lance as he caught his breath on the floor of the Green Lion’s mouth.

“What the heck where you doing out there!? You could have gotten yourself seriously hurt.”

“I know know, but I was feeling guilty and wanted to say this in person: The real reason I was late was because I wanted to get caught in the storm. This whole Voltron thing… Don’t get me wrong I love being a paladin and saving the universe and all… But it gets to you, ya know? I figured that with this mission, it would be like when a storm rolled in back on Earth. Just listen to the rain and forget everything.”  
Pidge wanted to be mad at Lance, but she could see where he was coming from. She knew exactly what he meant, as a paladin herself. Pidge would be lying to herself if there wasn’t a day where she didn’t want to just crawl up into a ball for a while.

It’s… It’s alright Lance, I get what you mean. It’s hard not to worry if something’s happening up there, but I’ll try to enjoy the rain with yo- What are you doing!?”

Pidge had looked away from Lance while giving her little speech, only to look back down at him stripping off pieces of his armor.

“I’m soaked and its cold in here. I’m taking off the armor pieces so I can dry faster. Relax Pidge, if you were hoping to get a peek at my hot bod I’m leaving the undersuit on.” Pidge couldn’t bring herself to look in Lance’s direction, who was trying not to laugh at how flustered Pidge was. Pidge sat down in her chair, and turning herself away from Lance.

“S-so, how do you suggest we pass the time?” Pidge peaked over her shoulder at Lance.

“I got an idea.” Lance picked his helmet out of his pile of armor pieces.

“Wanna play a game?”


	3. Getting to Know You

“So what kind of game are we playing?” Pidge looked down at the helmet Lance tossed her, then back up at him.

“Okay so it works like this- Whenever one of us tosses the helmet to the other person, the person who tossed it gets to ask the person a question. No dodging questions, you have to answer it.” Pidge raised an eyebrow.

“Isn’t this one of those ‘get to know you’ games? I feel like I’m back at Garrison orientation.” Lance rolled his eyes.

“You got any better ideas to keep us busy? Not like we can go anywhere or do anything.” Pidge looked back down at the helmet. Lance was right. The game console was hooked up in Lance’s room, and there wasn’t really anything else to do besides sit in the cockpit or nap. She decided to play along with Lance, as several questions came to mind. Pidge lobbed the helmet to Lance.

“Are you ever gonna give me my game console back? We could have had it here to play, if you weren’t hogging it all the time it’d be here, and we could be playing some Ultra Combat Fighter 3.” Lance gave a sheepish grin, but it quickly faded away into a more serious look.

“I almost felt bad, but then I remembered: What do you mean your console? Pretty sure I fished change out of the fountain too, ya know. Probably more than you did.” Pidge scoffed at that last comment.

“Pfft, yeah right. Did you even see my pockets by the time we were done? I definitely did most of the heavy lifting.”

“Ok Pidge I see how it is, moving on.” Lance passed the helmet back to Pidge. “Always wanted to ask this, would it be weird if I ever called you Katie?” Pidge gave a small laugh before answering.

“Yeah, that would be pretty weird. I mean, my parents call me Katie, but even my brother calls me Pidge. He’s the one who started calling me Pidge in the first place. Guess making your nickname your real fake name to get into the Garrison wasn’t a great idea, in hindsight.”

“Hey, it worked out.” Pidge rolled Lance’s helmet around in her hands, inspecting almost like she expected to find something. As she was looking at the helmet, a question popped into her head and a smirk crept onto her face. “I don’t like that look Pidge, what’re you gonna ask?” Pidge threw the helmet underhanded to Lance.

“Why do you flirt so much? I feel like with every planet we go to you are always using your paladin status to chat up girls” Pidge looked pleased with her question as Lance placed his hand on the back of his neck trying to pull together an answer.

“Well, the short answer is, it’s fun! Not much more to it than that. I just like flirting. Getting to know someone, sending signals, reading into what people are saying. It’s just something I like to do. Plus, you never know how far you’ll get.” Pidge turned up her nose slightly at Lance’s answer.

“Ok Pidge, so since this is the direction you want to take things.” Lance threw the helmet with a little more speed and force than before, causing Pidge to nearly fumble it. “Have you ever tried flirting with someone before? Doesn’t seem like your forte if you ask me.” Pidge felt the shift in power immediately. Now she was the uncomfortable one, and she didn’t like where this game was going one bit.

“Uh, well… I guess there was this one time. Back when I was in middle school, there was a boy I thought was cute. I tried to talk to him once, but I had this reputation of being the ‘weird girl’ and he blew me off right away. Haven’t really tried flirting or talking to anyone like that since." Pidge’s attention shifted back to the helmet, and Lance instantly regretted putting Pidge on the spot like he did.

“Ah, sorry to hear that Pidge, didn’t mean to bring up a bad memory, honest.”

“It’s fine Lance, that guy was a jerk anyway”

“A total jerk!” Lance added. “If you ask me Pidge, that guy should have counted himself lucky someone like you would be interested in him.”

Pidge felt a surge of heat rush through her face. She gently tossed the helmet back to Lance. “Speaking of flirting, how are things between you and Allura going?”

“Oh you know how it is, if I ever try to she usually just completely ignores it and moves on with the conversation. It is what it is.” Lance’s answer sounded a bit gloomy to Pidge, but it seemed like he wasn’t too bothered by how Allura treats him. “Like, I get it. If it’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be.”

Before Lance could get caught up in his feelings, he passed the helmet back to Pidge. “And what about you? Any crushes I should know about? Perhaps you have feelings for a young Olkarian genius, who knows?”

“Hey, I thought you said one question per toss, not two. But to answer your question no, I don’t have a crush on any Olkarians. My crush is a lot dumber than an Olkarian.”

“So you do have a crush on someone! Guess I know what to ask next.” Pidge cursed herself for letting that last bit slip out. Pidge stared at the helmet one last time, and thought that if this was how things were going to play out, she might as well go down swinging. Pidge tossed the helmet.

“So you flirt with random girls on different planets, you flirt with Allura… How come you’ve never tried to flirt with me?”

“I, um…” For the first time in his life, Lance felt like he had nothing to say. “Well… It’s probably because I knew you as a boy first, so the idea never really popped into my head. Not to say I wouldn’t be into you Pidge! You’re funny, smart, and pretty cute, too.” Pidge took her glasses off pretending to clean them to distract herself from what Lance had just said, hoping her pale skin didn’t betray her.

“Let me know when you’re ready to catch the helmet, I know you’re just stalling for time.” It didn’t even occur to Pidge that she was going to have to come clean about her crush in a moment, the compliments from Lance threw her off balance. She calmly put her glasses back on, and braced herself for the helmet.

“So who do you like?”

“Well… I mentioned he’s dumb before… A little too dumb to figure things out. I-it’s you, Lance. The person I like is you.”

“What? Really? Wait, for how long?” Pidge turned in her chair so her back would face Lance.

“Aw c’mon Pidge don’t be like that.” Lance walked around to the other side of Pidge’s seat to talk to her.

“You know you could have just said ‘pass’ right? I wouldn’t make you say anything you’re not comfortable sharing.”

“That was an option!? You said I couldn't dodge questions!” Pidge buried her face in her hands. “Too late now, I was hoping I’d get to tell you on my terms, maybe after this whole war thing was settled.”

“Sorry Pidge… For what it’s worth, I meant what I said before, you’re a great catch. I’m feeling like this is kind of a lot right now, so maybe we’ll give each other some space? Gonna head towards the back of the lion.” Pidge nodded in agreement. Lance looked at the door leading out of the cockpit and back to Pidge. He could have ended it right then and there, but decided to complicate things even more than they already were. Lance leaned in and pecked Pidge on the cheek. “I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”

Pidge melted into a pile on the floor, as Lance walked out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I got around to writing another chapter! I was going to upload way sooner, but my laptop updated unexpectedly, deleting all my work. It left me not wanting to write this story for a long while, but here's something.


	4. I Always Win

Lance woke up from his nap in the belly of the Green Lion. He slept leaning his back against the wall, feeling some pain in his neck he moved it side to side as he slowly pulled himself off the floor. Still groggy, he looked at the door that led into the cockpit. He wasn’t sure how long he was out for, an hour or two at most. He ran his hand through his hair, contemplating what he’s going to say when he walked through the door.

Meanwhile, Pidge sat motionless in the seat of the cockpit. She had her legs clutched against her chest, head down in a ball of her own thoughts. She perked up at the side of the cockpit doors opening, her heart sinking a little. She looked up to see Lance leaning over her seat, looking down on her.

“You know, you’re cuter than you think you are.”

“Wh- are you serious right now Lance?” Pidge looked up at Lance incredulously, causing Lance to back off from his position of leaning on the chair.

“I thought you wanted me to flirt with you.” She sighed.

“I don’t know what I want.” Pidge released her legs and sprawled out in her seat, lifting her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose. Lance moved to sit down next to Pidge.

“So I might have gone a bit too far with that peck, sorry about that.”

“No you didn- I mean, not that you didn’t go far enough, but like, ah quiznak!” Pidge took a deep breath and collected herself. “What I’m trying to say is, you weren’t out of line or anything, but it was a bit much given everything that just came out.” Lance couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

“Yeah I get it, as soon as I went into the other room I got a ‘shouldn’t have done that’ feeling in my gut.” There was a small silence between them before Lance began to speak again.

“It’s kind of crazy, thinking of you like that, not that no one wouldn’t think of you like that, just weird that it never occurred to me.”

“What do you mean 'thinking about me like that'?”

“I’m mean… I mean that I think I like you.” Pidge felt her heart stop and her entire body heat up.

“I… Really?” Lance laughed again, softer than before.

“Do I have to spell it out for you? I already said I think you’re cute, funny, smart, all the things you’d want in a girl. But I guess you’re a hard data person so it makes sense.”

“Well sorry! No one’s ever been interested.” Pidge began to crack under Lance’s attention, looking down and twiddling her thumbs.

“Their loss.” The cockpit grew quiet after Lance's remark. Pidge couldn't stand the silence, her mind racing trying to think of something to say.

“Oh! Um, the storm is letting up a bit, we’ll be able to contact the Castle and make our way back soon.”

Lance looked outside, the rain was still coming down hard but it had gotten a little better since he woke up.

“Can we agree on something, Lance?” Lance looked up at Pidge. “Sure, what?”

Can we just… Forget this happened? I really like you, but there’s just… So much going on right now, I can’t think about this stuff.” Pidge felt her heart break at little at the words that came out of her mouth. There wasn’t anything that she wanted more, but she knew that it wasn’t the right time. It didn’t help that Lance looked a bit dejected at what she said to him.

“Yeah that makes sense, I get it.”

“Lance, I’m not rejecting you, it’s more like… Making a promise. When this is all over and we’re back home, we’ll go on a date and see what happens, deal?” Lance’s mood made a complete one-eighty.  
“Deal.” Pidge got up from her seat and looked down at Lance sitting on the floor.

“There is one thing I want to do though, before we forget everything and act like nothing happened.” Pidge motioned Lance to stand up and come over to her. She looked up at a confused Lance. Before he could react or she could think about it, Pidge grabbed Lance by his shoulders and pulled him in for a kiss. Lance pulled away first, with a bewildered look on his face. She looked down out of embarrassment, but pulled him in for a second kiss.

“I… “

“For someone who claims to be so good with girls, you really are just a goofball at the end of the day.” Pidge giggled to herself, satisfied. “I always win, Lance.”

“What do you mean you always win!?” Lance threw his hands up in the air, still flabbergasted by what just happened.

“I always win, you pecked me on the cheek, so I beat you with not one but two kisses.” Lance pointed a finger at Pidge about to say something, but Pidge grabbed his hand and directed him to sit in the pilot’s chair. She then laid herself across Lance’s lap, her legs dangling over the side of the seat.

“I’m tired, we had a long day looking for crystals and I wound myself up thinking about confessing my feelings to you. You on the other hand slept like a baby.” Pidge nuzzled herself up against Lance’s side making herself comfortable.

“I’m gonna take a nap, wake me up when the rain stops. Oh, and you’ll forget this part happened too.” Pidge took her glasses off, and carefully set them on the ground.

Lance felt relieved that Pidge was back to her normal self. He would have retorted with a witty remark, but as Pidge closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, he decided it was better just to let her win this time. Lance was defeated, but everything that had happened felt far from a loss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Voltron ended, what a wild ride. Kinda sad that this pairing wasn't canon, but it was a long shot anyway. Doesn't mean I can't stop writing though, thanks for reading!


End file.
